Science and technology

Tech conferences

What's the big idea?

SINCE the 1980s your correspondent has attended roughly 100 technology conferences. His recollection of such events blurs into one endless, cavernous convention centre attached to a hotel of identical, bland rooms. The talks, perhaps meaningful at the time, leave no impression on the mind, save for one colleague's description of achieving peak wireless data rates only when a device is so close as to "make carnal love to the cellular tower".

Technology conferences, whether conducted in isolation or, more often, in association with a trade show at which vendors demonstrate their latest geegaws and jimcrack, often find themselves mired deep in the weeds of detail and sales pitches. But Babbage did go to two conferences recently that owe more to the model popularised by the TED events.

TED is a remarkably expensive conference that has spawned a form of authorised franchise under the TEDx label. It has just announced the billionth view of its free online videos (TED Talks). While some criticise TED for taking complex subjects and distilling them using a formula that results in pabulum (the Onion has recently started a video series parodying the format), TED has broken the mould of what one expects from a speech. Speakers do not explain how to configure a bit of kit nor why one product is superior or inferior to another. Rather, they try to reconfigure listeners' minds.

The XOXO conference in Portland, Oregon, held in mid-September, followed that pattern. The organisers, Andy Baio and Andy McMillan, launched the event via Kickstarter, the crowdfunding site at which Mr Baio was once chief technical officer. Tickets, at $400 each, sold out within two days. The event had what it called a "fringe" of three evenings of entertainment open to the public (video games, music and film on successive nights) coupled with two days of talks.

The first day featured creative people who had reached a level of popularity and often financial success without using conventional routes to distribute products, songs, films, video games, crafts and more. On the second day technologists who had created methods to finance and produce things and content without fleecing customers or acting as gatekeepers. Talks came from people who had made things happen (explaining why) and from firms and individuals who facilitate those things happening (explaining how).

The VHX streaming service, for instance, powered the delivery of "Indie Game: The Movie", whose creators spoke a day earlier. VHX levies a fee to handle accounts, charge credit cards and manage the technical details of streaming and downloads. This allows filmmakers to have their own digital distribution channel with a far higher profit margin besids the higher-fee storefronts of Amazon, Apple and Walmart, among others.

But what was remarkable throughout the event, even when the bosses of firms like Etsy and Kickstarter spoke, was the near utter lack of insincerity, marketing talk of "effectuating the paradigms" or hyperbole. Instead, speakers spoke straight, even about business matters. The sound of unvarnished truth rang loudly. Hundreds of attendees were no less remarkable a crowd, comprising a wide range of interests, as well as artistic and technical abilities. Babbage was engrossed in one continuous conversation for the full two days, weaving from the stage and into the seats, out to lunch at Portland's famous food trucks, and back inside for more.

In mid-October, your correspondent made his way to Montréal for Çingleton Deux, the second iteration of an event designed for programmers of Apple gear, with no software in sight. (The conference paid some of Babbage's expenses in exchange for delivering a session on the joys of crowdfunding.) The developers behind Çingleton, including the improbably named Quebecois Guy English, wanted programmers to hear ideas that took them out of their code-tapping mindset. Talks ranged from building a focused and happy company (presented by one of the most successful third-party Apple developers) to creating a team in which someone is a "dictator" and must make a clear decision to the many vagaries of proper e-book workflow and creation.

What both conferences possessed was a thoughtfulness that transcended any particular product or service. TED already has a legacy in spreading new ideas. Its way of spreading them is spreading, too.

Ah, but through reason, logic, and insight; not through nonsense.
Most marketing in the technology world is in the form of lies, to be impolite, even when the data is accurate. A device is revolutionary and will transform the world, and your old way of working will be replaced, and so forth. That is rarely, if ever, true, even with truly revolutionary hardware.
Instead of pushing a message of deliverance through technology, the speakers explained how to follow a genuine consistent vision, which in the past would be both difficult or impossible to fund, and, if funded, would require giving up control of one's products or creative life. Even if one could self-fund, reaching an audience was difficult at best.
Both XOXO and Çingleton provided insight into taking a strong point of view, realising it in some form (software, hardware, crafts, a movie), and then connecting directly and powerfully with an audience that wants it.

IMHO one thing has changed recently is attendees now want to learn something, bring something useful back to their companies. The days of pure tourism may have gone.

I've long given speeches on parts proliferation to less than thrilled engineers and would say that this and last year participation has increased, and you can also notice more pragmatism in discussions.

Related article: Are you TED-worthy? http://www.ideafaktory.com/social-media/are-you-ted-worthy/
TED offers us a glimpse into our future – an unnatural selection of sorts. As we luxuriate in the abundance of the information age, we also hide some uncomfortable scarcities. TED foreshadows what success – and even survival will look like in the next century.